Flavor

You've got friends and family invited for the big game on Sunday. What will you serve? Well, it's a pretty good bet that at least a couple guests will want something spicy - chicken wings, nachos, chili, you know the list. But not all hot sauces are the same. Some are mild, some very hot, some thin, some thick. With that in mind, The Herald-Mail Lifestyle Department hosted a "blind" hot sauce-tasting this week. Six volunteers tasted six commercial hot sauces. The sauces were not identified until after the tasters were done sampling.

While I have previously listed beef skewers or city chicken recipes, this recipe is taking the simple beef kabob to the next level of flavor.   By incorporating a flavorful wine as the marinade for your vegetables and meat, you get loads of flavor and a deliciously simple meal that is ready in less than an hour. For this recipe, you want to get some really nice sirloin or rib eye. You don't need top-of-the-line filet mignon, but high-quality cuts certainly add to the tenderness and flavor of the finished dish.

With spring in full swing, this recipe makes you think of a lazy Saturday brunch, a fresh pot of hot coffee and a few bites of hashbrown potatoes and grilled country sausage.   What brings unique flavor to this quiche is Dunbarton Blue cheese. It's a wonderfully flavorful, cheddar-style cheese with delicious veins of blue cheese running throughout.  It can be grated or sliced, and goes equally well served on a sandwich or blended into mashed potatoes. — Scott C. Anderson is associate food service director and chef with Shepherd University dining services in Shepherdstown, W.Va., and Chef Ambassador to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

Research shows that eating less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium (about 1 teaspoon of salt) per day may reduce the risk of high blood pressure. Hypertension or high blood pressure is sometimes called the "silent killer" because people can't feel high blood pressure. Although there are some signs or symptoms of hypertension, they are easily overlooked. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that Americans reduce their daily sodium consumption to less than 2,300 milligrams.

“You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream” or at least that’s what Caroline Holmes is hoping Greencastle folks will chant later this month. There are hundreds of different flavors of ice cream, but the 11-year-old Greencastle girl came up with a new ice-cream flavor — Caroline’s Red White and Blue — with the money raised from sales of it going to local charities. While visiting her cousin in Connecticut, she entered a Create a Flavor, Change the World contest at Ashley’s Ice Cream shop there.

Hagerstown native Bill Kendle, 63, has never been a man to shy away from the kitchen. "Since my wife and I have been together I've done about 95 percent of the cooking," he said during a telephone interview from his home in Greenbackville, Va. Kendle and his wife of 18 years, Beverly, moved to the town near Assateague and Chincoteague islands after he retired after 30 years with General Motors in Martinsburg, W.Va. In 1995, his family doctor diagnosed Kendle as being a diabetic.

Wouldn't it be great to season your food without adding a lot of fat or salt? Try adding onions. Their lively flavor ranges from sharp to sweet and they will enhance many dishes, plus provide a nutritional boost. High-fiber, low-calorie onions count as a vegetable. There are many different onion varieties on the market. They are classified as either storage onions or sweet onions. Storage onions, such as the common yellow onion, have a sharp flavor, thick skin and low moisture content.

andrewm@herald-mail.com There's nothing vanilla about Erik Bennett. "Most distance runners are kind of boring, so I have to bring a different flavor to the game," said Bennett, 24, of Chambersburg, Pa. He's bringing his flavorful brand of confidence to this Saturday's 26th annual Chambersburg Half Marathon. Despite having never run a race longer than 10 miles, Bennett has guaranteed a victory on the hilly 13.1-mile course. "There's no way I can lose," he said.

Recipes and photo from Filippo Berio Olive Oil In the past decade, we have learned more about the flavor and the added health benefits of olive oil. No longer is olive oil only associated with Italian cuisine. It has become a staple in many American kitchens and restaurants - whether used in cooking, as a light oil for salads and vegetables or a richly flavored alternative to butter for bread. While we have come to appreciate the flavor and health benefits, many of us don't realize the rich tradition behind each bottle of Italian olive oil. [cont.

I am a changed man. A more open-minded man. Fifteen months ago, I had a conversion experience. Just before the big Halloween snow in 2011, my wife, Yolanda, told me she was going to eat a gluten-free, grain-free diet for 30 days. When I heard these words, I kept my face placid, but inside, my food-loving heart of hearts was doing an imitation of "The Scream. " You see, we generally eat as a family, and when two of the kids went vegetarian, we all ate vegetarian, by and large. That was OK - food was still flavorful.

Cascade Elementary School fourth-grader Kiarra Wilson will occasionally get strawberry milk for lunch but said chocolate milk is her favorite. “It's like drinking candy,” she said. “I love chocolate.” Wilson, 10, said that her favorite meal is macaroni and cheese with chocolate milk. She was one of 14 students at Cascade Elementary asked Wednesday about their favorite type of milk to drink. Of those 14 students, eight said chocolate milk was their favorite, three preferred strawberry milk, one each went for vanilla, fat-free and unflavored, and lactose-free and unflavored.

The school system's got milk - from low-fat to fat and lactose free - in a variety of flavors. Chocolate is the favorite milk flavor of students in Washington County Public Schools, followed by vanilla, according to the school system's Food and Nutrition Services Supervisor Jeff Proulx. Washington County Board of Education members, who were about to vote on a contract for a milk supplier, asked Proulx about the vanilla flavoring and the sugar in flavored milk during a May 7 school board meeting.

With the onset of spring comes fresh, new ingredients as the ground awakens from winter and gets ready for the summer harvest.  By incorporating skim milk, chicken base (found in 1 pound tub of concentrated chicken in powder or solid form) and cornstarch you cut back on the amount of fat in the dish but keep the flavor. You can substitute chicken bouillon if you do not have any chicken base, but read the ingredients and make sure the first ingredient listed is chicken, not fat, sugar or salt.

I am a changed man. A more open-minded man. Fifteen months ago, I had a conversion experience. Just before the big Halloween snow in 2011, my wife, Yolanda, told me she was going to eat a gluten-free, grain-free diet for 30 days. When I heard these words, I kept my face placid, but inside, my food-loving heart of hearts was doing an imitation of "The Scream. " You see, we generally eat as a family, and when two of the kids went vegetarian, we all ate vegetarian, by and large. That was OK - food was still flavorful.

Editor's note: This is part of an occasional series of profiles of local restaurant chefs. As executive chef for Nick's Airport Inn - one of Washington County's top dining establishments - Francis Verdier is responsible for maintaining high culinary standards. You might think Verdier's job would be simple: Make the favorite dishes of frequent patrons over and over and over. You would be wrong. "We have people who are looking for new things all the time," Verdier said.

Meatballs are the cupcakes of the world of meaty main dishes - little bundles of flavor and texture that can be plain or fancy, zesty or bland. And everybody who makes meatballs has a favorite flavor profile - Italian meatballs, barbecued meatballs, Thai meatballs. Luke Fogle, kitchen manager of Mountain Gate Family Restaurant and Catering in Waynesboro, Pa., said his catering customers like his Swedish meatballs. "We blend hamburger and sausage together, and we use our own special sauce," he said.

A good protein shake can be a powerful weapon in the fight for fitness. Especially, if your goal is (and it should be) to build more muscle. Many people, even yourself, have problems making a shake they can actually enjoy. Whether it's the consistency, the flavor of a particular brand that was recommended or other limiting factors, some of us just can't seem to get it right every time. Use these tips to ensure a perfect protein shake, and always ensure you'll get the fuel you need to get stronger and leaner.

Avocados and good cheeses make this sandwich a standout. With the beautiful avocados in my fridge, I needed to come up with another reason to serve their creamy goodness. When the avocados have just reached the peak of ripeness, it's hard to resist the urge to eat one right out of its skin. This sandwich is a marriage of flavors and states. I took California avocados and two Wisconsin cheeses, and brought them together on a fresh, whole-wheat bread, grilled with garlic olive oil and thin slices of red onion for color and snap.

In looking at specific flavors, I have found by adding different varieties of olive oils, I can get a much deeper or more pronounced flavor.  One note: That bottle of olive oil that's been next to your stove or on your counter for the better part of a year, should be cast out.  More than likely, the oil is off flavor, possibly rancid and maybe just down right bland. The initial cost of good, quality olive oil might seem less than frugal, but you'll use less oil to get the same flavor.

Editor's note: This is part of an occasional series of stories on children eating vegetables. The series explores ways to highlight a vegetable's flavor and appearance as a way to work around the resistance some kids have to eating vegetables.     Common sense says we eat with our eyes first. If food looks good, we think it might taste good. So we try a bite, even if it's unfamiliar. So beets, with their deep ruby-red color, are a wonderful addition to a home cook's "palette" of foods.